Informa Said to Hold Joint Bid Talks for Thomson Reuters IP Unit says report on Bloomberg..
Interesting as Informa had all but finished with law a few years back
Informa Plc, the U.K.-based business information provider, has held talks about providing capital to bidders for Thomson Reuters Corp.’s Intellectual Property & Science division, said people familiar with the matter.
The company has spoken with some of the remaining bidders, which include buyout firms Bain Capital, BC Partners and Carlyle Group LP, about investing alongside the eventual winner, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The talks are preliminary and Informa is not yet formally part of any bid, the people said.
Thomson Reuters, which is working with JP Morgan Chase & Co. and Guggenheim Securities on the sale process, expects the unit to fetch about $3 billion, people said. The company said in November it would sell the division, which employs more than 3000 people globally, because it is no longer core to the company. Final bids are expected this month, the people said.
Representatives for Thomson Reuters, Informa, BC Partners, Bain Capital and Carlyle declined to comment.
Informa, which has a market value of about 4.3 billion pounds ($5.7 billion), employs more than 6,000 people globally across five divisions: Business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge, events and support, according to its website. Products included for sale in Thomson’s IP unit include Thomson Compumark and MarkMonitor, according to its website.
Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, competes with Thomson Reuters and Informa in providing news and information.
